Ayers Rock, Uluru - Crystalinks Ayers Rock Ayers Rock is also known by its Aboriginal name 'Uluru'. It is a sacred part of Aboriginal creation mythology, or dreamtime - reality being a dream. Uluru is considered one of the great wonders of the world and one of Australia's most recognizable natural icons. Uluru is a large magnetic mound large not unlike Silbury Hill in England. It is located on a major planetary grid point much like the Great Pyramid in Egypt. Ayers Rock is a large sandstone rock formation in central Australia, in the Northern Territory. It is located in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, 350 km southwest of Alice Springs at 25 degrees 20' 41" S 131 degrees 01' 57" E. It is the second-largest monolith in the world (after Mount Augustus, also in Australia), more than 318 m (986 ft) high and 8 km (5 miles) around. It also extends 2.5 km (1.5 miles) into the ground.

It was described by explorer Ernest Giles in 1872 as "the remarkable pebble".' Uluru is an inselberg, literally "island mountain", an isolated remnant left after the slow erosion of an original mountain range. Uluru is also often referred to as a monolith, although this is a somewhat ambiguous term because of its multiple meanings, and thus a word generally avoided by geologists. The remarkable feature of Uluru is its homogeneity and lack of jointing and parting at bedding surfaces, leading to the lack of development of scree slopes and soil. These characteristics led to its survival, while the surrounding rocks were eroded. For the purpose of mapping and describing the geological history of the area, geologists refer to the rock strata making up Uluru as the Mutitjulu Arkose, and it is one of many sedimentary formations filling the Amadeus Basin. Close Up Rain Age and Origin The Mutitjulu Arkose is believed to be of about the same age as the conglomerate at Kata Tjuta, and to have a similar origin despite the rock type being different, but it is younger than the rocks exposed to the east at Mount Conner, and unrelated to them.

The strata at Uluru are nearly vertical, dipping to the south west at 85 degrees, and have an exposed thickness of at least 2,400 m (7,900 ft). The strata dip below the surrounding plain and no doubt extend well beyond Uluru in the subsurface, but the extent is not known. The rock was originally sand, deposited as part of an extensive alluvial fan that extended out from the ancestors of the Musgrave, Mann and Petermann Ranges to the south and west, but separate from a nearby fan that deposited the sand, pebbles and cobbles that now make up Kata Tjuta. The similar mineral composition of the Mutitjulu Arkose and the granite ranges to the south is now explained. The ancestors of the ranges to the south were once much larger than the eroded remnants we see today. They were thrust up during a mountain building episode referred to as the Petermann Orogeny that took place in late Neoproterozoic to early Cambrian times (550-530 Ma), and thus the Mutitjulu Arkose is believed to have been deposited at about the same time.

The arkose sandstone which makes up the formation is composed of grains that show little sorting based on grain size, exhibit very little rounding and the feldspars in the rock are relatively fresh in appearance. This lack of sorting and grain rounding is typical of arkosic sandstones and is indicative of relatively rapid erosion from the granites of the growing mountains to the south. The layers of sand were nearly horizontal when deposited, but were later tilted to their near vertical position during a later episode of mountain building, possibly the Alice Springs Orogeny of Palaeozoic age (400-300 Ma). Despite current estimates of the age of the geological formations that comprise Uluru, however, the arkose sandstone which makes up the formation is composed of grains that are many different sizes and are jagged, and the feldspars in the rock are fresh and shiny. Flood geologists argue that this indicates a comparatively fast deposit, on the order of only a few years or less. They state that if the arkose grains had been transported more slowly they would be more rounded and evenly sorted, and the feldspars would have turned to clay in the intervening years.

History Archaeological findings to the east and west indicate that humans settled in the area more than 10,000 years ago. Europeans arrived in the Australian Western Desert in the 1870s. Uluru and Kata Tjuta were first mapped by Europeans in 1872 during the expeditionary period made possible by the construction of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line. In separate expeditions, Ernest Giles and William Gosse were the first European explorers to this area. While exploring the area in 1872, Giles sighted Kata Tjuta from a location near Kings Canyon and called it Mount Olga, while the following year Gosse observed Uluru and named it Ayers Rock. Further explorations followed with the aim of establishing the possibilities of the area for pastoralism. In the late 1800s, pastoralists attempted to establish themselves in areas adjoining the South western/Petermann Reserve and interaction between Anangu and white people became more frequent and more violent. Due to the effects of grazing and drought, bush food stores became depleted. Competition for these resources created conflict between the two groups, resulting in more frequent police patrols.

Later, during the depression in the 1930s, Anangu became involved in dingo scalping with 'doggers' who introduced Anangu to European foods and ways. Between 1918 and 1921, large adjoining areas of South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory were declared as Aboriginal reserves, sanctuaries for nomadic people who had virtually no contact with European settlers. In 1920, part of Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park was declared an Aboriginal Reserve (commonly known as the South-Western or Petermann Reserve) by the Australian government under the Aboriginals Ordinance. The first tourists arrived in the Uluru area in 1936. Beginning in the 1940s, permanent European settlement of the area for reasons of the Aboriginal welfare policy and to help promote tourism of Uluru. This increased tourism prompted the formation of the first vehicular tracks in 1948 and tour bus services began early in the following decade.

In 1958, the area that would become the Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park was excised from the Petermann Reserve; it was placed under the management of the Northern Territory Reserves Board and named the Ayers Rock - Mount Olga National Park. The first ranger was Bill Harney, a well-recognised central Australian figure. By 1959, the first motel leases had been granted and Eddie Connellan had constructed an airstrip close to the northern side of Uluru. On 26 October 1985, the Australian government returned ownership of Uluru to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines, with one of the conditions being that the Anangu would lease it back to the National Parks and Wildlife agency for 99 years and that it would be jointly managed. The Aboriginal community of Mutitjulu, population of approximately 300, is located near the western end of Uluru. From Uluru it is 17 km (11 mi) by road to the tourist town of Yulara, population 3,000, which is situated just outside of the national park.

Kata Tjuta National Park is owned and run by the local Aboriginals. The Australian government handed ownership of the land back to the Aboriginals some years ago. Uluru has many caves, some decorated with rock art depicting Dreamtime myths dating back thousands of years. The Caves The caves in Uluru can be both engaging and enlightening. To truly experience the power of Ayers Rock, your journey should be more than a few hours. Take your time to absorb the history of the springs, caves, and ancient paintings throughout the formation and don't worry about running your business . The first Aboriginal settlers arrived there more than 10,000 years ago and created a historical journey that would be difficult to transverse overnight so the recommendation for any tourists traveling to the formation has always been to allow more time to absorb the area without being distracted. Mount Urulu Turned Violet Uluru went from red to violet on June 1, 2004, waterfalls on the rocks causing the color change. Ayers Rock was named for the Premier of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers. It extends down over 3 and a half miles beneath the surface.

Approximately 500 million years ago it was part of the ocean floor at the center of Australia. Some report that there is a light source emanating at various times of the year. Most likely this can be explained scientifically. The Aborigines believe that there it is hollow below ground, and that there is an energy source that they call 'Tjukurpa' the dream time. The term Tjukurpa is also used to refer to the record of all activities of a particular ancestral being from the very beginning of his or her travels to their end. Anangu know that the area around Ayers Rock (Mount Uluru) is inhabited by dozens of ancestral 'beings' whose activities are recorded at many other sites. At each site, the events that took place can be recounted, whether those events were of significance or whether the ancestral being just rested at a certain place before going on. Usually, there is a physical feature of some form at each ancestral site which represents both the activities of the ancestral being at the time of its formation and the living presence of Tjukurpa within that physical feature today.

For the Australian Aboriginal people, that physical feature, whatever its form or appearance, animate or inanimate, is the Tjukurpa. It may be a rock, a sand hill, a grove of trees, a cave. For all of these, the creative essence remains forever within the physical form or appearance. Around Mount Uluru there are many examples of ancestral sites. The Anangu explanations of these sites and of the formation of Mount Uluru itself derive from the Tjukurpa. Most of these explanations are in the realm of secret information and are not disclosed to Piranypa, the non-Aborigines. 'The Dreaming' is not a creation myth, per se, but a myth of formation. The world existed, but was featureless. Giant semi-human beings, resembling plants or animals, rose up from the plains where they had been slumbering for countless ages. These ancient heroes roamed the land aimlessly. As they wandered around, they carried out the tasks that the present Aborigines do today including camping, making fires, digging for water, fighting each other, and performing ceremonies. When the heroes became tired of doing these things, Dreamtime came to an end.

Wherever the creators had been active, some form of natural feature now marks the place. The creators made everything with which the aborigines are in daily contact and from which they gain their living. The heroes also established laws that govern all aspects, both secular and sacred, of the tribes. Dreamtime was in the past, but it is the Aborigines present religion and culture. The saying, 'As it was done in the Dreamtime, so it must be done today,' dominates all aspects of aboriginal behavior. Because of their beliefs in 'the dreaming,' ceremonies and rituals are held, stories are told, pictures are drawn, and daily life is defined. In order to understand the religion of the Aborigines, one must have a basic understanding of the organization of the tribes. All men and women belong to small groups, called clans. Each clan posses a distinct body of spiritual properties, or sacred sites. A clan may have several sacred sites that they claim, and the area surrounded by the connection of these sites forms the clan's estate. Clans are linked by common religious traditions, intermarriage, shared dialects, and overlapping foraging rights.

Stone monument made by the heroic ancestors Clans people of the crow believe they are descended from the Dreamtime's crow spirit who became a man. Each clan has a totem. 'Totemism is a view of nature and life, of the universe and man, which colors and influences the Aborigines' social groupings and mythologies, inspires their rituals and links them to the past. It unites them with nature's activities and species in a bond of mutual life-giving, and imparts confidence amidst the vicissitudes of life'. The totem provides a tangible expression of a man's relationship to his deities. Everything in the Aboriginal world contains an essence or spirit that had its beginnings in the Dreamtime. Each person descended from one of these spirits and possessed some of its life force. The spirit it descended from is the person's totem. Images of totems make-up a large part of Aboriginal art. They were painted on cave walls, which we title rock art, drawn on the interiors of their huts, drawn on their bodies, and carved in wood. Totemic spirits are celebrated in ceremonies and rituals, and played a prominent part in Aboriginal myth.

Myths, Legends and Aboriginal Traditions According to the Anangu traditional landowners of Uluru: "The world was once a featureless place. None of the places we know existed until creator beings, in the forms of people, plants and animals, traveled widely across the land. Then, in a process of creation and destruction, they formed the landscape as we know it today. Anangu land is still inhabited by the spirits of dozens of these ancestral creator beings which are referred to as Tjukuritja or Waparitja." There are a number of unauthenticated accounts of the Aboriginal ancestral stories for the origins of Uluru and its many cracks and fissures. One such account, taken from Robert Layton's (1989) ULURU: An Aboriginal history of Ayers Rock, reads as follows: "Uluru (Ayers Rock) was built up during the creation period by two boys who played in the mud after rain.

When they had finished their game they travelled south to Wiputa ..Fighting together, the two boys made their way to the table topped Mount Conner, on top of which their bodies are preserved as boulders" (Page 5) Two other accounts are given in Norbert Brockman's (1997) Encyclopedia of Sacred Places. The first tells of serpent beings who waged many wars around Uluru, scarring the rock. The second tells of two tribes of ancestral spirits who were invited to a feast, but were distracted by the beautiful Sleepy Lizard Women and did not show up. In response, the angry hosts sang evil into a mud sculpture that came to life as the dingo. There followed a great battle, which ended in the deaths of the leaders of both tribes. The earth itself rose up in grief at the bloodshed, becoming Uluru. The Commwealth Department of Environment's webpage advises: "Many ..

Tjukurpa such as Kalaya (Emu), Liru (poisonous snake), Lungkata (blue tongue lizard), Luunpa (kingfisher) and Tjintir-tjintirpa (willie wagtail) travel through Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Other Tjukurpa affect only one specific area. "Kuniya, the woma python, lived in the rocks at Uluru where she fought the Liru, the poisonous snake." It is sometimes reported that those who take rocks from the formation will be cursed and suffer misfortune. There have been many instances where people who removed such rocks attempted to mail them back to various agencies in an attempt to remove the perceived curse. In the News ... Flooding rains bring rare waterfalls to Australia's Uluru AFP - January 16, 2010 Heavy rains which flooded parts of Australia's vast desert centre have brought rare waterfalls spilling from the iconic monolith Uluru, or Ayers Rocks, officials said Saturday.

The deluge, which swept across much of the continent's east after a tropical cyclone last month, prompted a wave of green in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, home to the giant red rock. Uluru typically receives little more than 12 inches of rain a year, and January is its hottest, driest month, with temperatures topping to 45 degrees Celsius (113 F). Fireball at Ayers Rock NASA - June 28, 2008 A weekend trip for astrophotography in central Australia can result in gorgeous skyscapes. In this example recorded in March of 2006, the center of our Milky Way Galaxy rises over planet Earth's horizon and the large sandstone formation called Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock. After setting up two cameras to automatically image this celestial scene in a series of exposures, one through a wide-angle and the other through a telephoto lens, photographer Joseph Brimacombe briefly turned his back to set up other equipment. To his surprise, the ground around him suddenly lit up with the brilliant flash of a fireball meteor. To his delight, both cameras captured the bright meteor streak.

Highlighted in the telephoto view (inset), the fireball trail shines through cloud banks, just left of Ayers Rock. Satellite Photo [Click and Drag] Face Book: Ben's Journey to Kaja Kutja - Journey into the the Valley of the Winds Australian rocks and mountains | australia.gov.au Australian rocks and mountains National parks Australian rocks and mountains Australia is a very flat continent where the average elevation is just 330 metres, the lowest in the world. What Australia lacks in height is more that made up for in the variety, geological age and unique appearance of its mountains and rocky outcrops - some of the oldest and most interesting exposed rocks in the world. The highest point in Australia is Mount Kosciuszko (named by Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki in 1840 after the Polish patriot and democratic leader Tadeusz Kosciuszko) in New South Wales, at 2,228 metres above sea level. Mount Kosciuszko is part of the Great Dividing Range. The Great Dividing Range The Blue Mountains, New South Wales. Image courtesy of Tourism New South Wales The Great Dividing Range is one of Australia's most important geographical features.

It divides the east coast from the inland and has a major influence on our climate, population spread and settlement patterns, economics and agriculture. It is home to an amazing array of plants and animals that don't exist anywhere else on earth. It is the source of our longest rivers and our highest mountains. The range runs parallel to the east cost of Australia, from Cape York in the North to Western Victoria in the south. Tasmania, Australia's island state which lies even further south, is also a part of this massive and ancient mountain range. The Great Dividing Range has it origins many millions of years ago when the continents of earth were fused together as the Gondwana land mass. A huge uplift in the earth's crust occurred over millions of years, during the Pliocene and the Pleistocene Epochs (between 5.4 million to 10,000 years ago). This was just after the extinction of the dinosaurs and during the time that modern humans first appeared. As the ranges eroded over millions of years, the high mountain tops became islands. Populations of animal species which used to live across large areas became concentrated on the mountains and groups became isolated from each other.

Over many thousands of years, this isolation meant that species evolved independently and this led to many variations in species. The ranges are also home to some amazing species of animals and plants that are survivors of Gondwana. The Wollemi Pine, recently found growing in a gorge of the Blue Mountains, is a living dinosaur of the plant world. Twenty-three of the 35 known species of the carab beetle live on just one mountain top in northern Queensland, at the top of the Great Dividing Range. Rocky outcrops Other rock structures in Australia, like Uluru, Mount Augustus and Bald Rock, have been described as monoliths. However the term monolith, primarily used to describe buildings, is considered by geological experts to be inappropriate in describing these structures, as they do not meet the strict scientific geological criteria of it being made only of one stone and standing alone as demonstrated in the Sardires peak in the Vanoise massif of the Western French Alps. Uluru Uluru, Northern Territory. Photo courtesy of GeoScience Australia Uluru is located in the National Heritage Listed Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park about 335km to the south-west of Alice Springs in Northern Territory, Australia.

It is part of a massive rock feature that stretches underground for many kilometres, and is part of the Kata Tjuka (Olgas) outcrop. Uluru is 9.4km around the base, and about 345 metres high (and is thought to be the tip of an old silt fan formation tilted up by geological movement, which extends kilometres below the surface). Above the ground it is 3.6km long, 2km wide, and is roughly oval in shape. It is made of sedimentary arkosic sandstone (less than 75% compressed lithified sand and more than 25% feldspar), and is renowned for the way it changes colour in the light and is particularly spectacular at sunrise and sunset. The colonial explorer William Gosse, who visited the area in 1873, named the rock feature Ayers Rock after Henry Ayers, then Governor of South Australia. Uluru was returned to the care and control the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people (also known as Anangu) in 1985 to whom it had been home for tens of thousands of years.

In 1995 the name of the National Park was changed from Ayers Rock-Mount Olga National Park to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park to acknowledge Anangu control and their relationship with the area. Mount Augustus Mount Augustus, Western Australia. Photograph by Malcolm Wells. The visible portion of the sandstone and conglomerate structure which makes up Mount Augustus, is twice the size of Uluru. Sitting on a bedrock of granite, the mountain stands 858 metres above the surrounding plain and 1105 metres above sea level and is eight kilometres long. It can be seen clearly from 160 kilometres away and is sometimes described as the world's largest monocline, part of Mount Augustus National Park. It is estimated that the rock of the mountain is some 1000 million years old. It was formed from an uplift which raised an ancient seabed of sandstone conglomerate and folded it into a dramatic anticline (like an inverted V shape). The granite rock which lies beneath Mount Augustus is said to be 1650 million years old.

Francis Gregory, on his journey through the Gascoyne, became the first European to climb the mountain in 1858, and he named the rock after his brother, Sir Augustus Charles Gregory (1819-1905). It is called Burringurrah by local Wadjari people after a Dreamtime figure, a young boy, who was speared and turned into a rock. More than 100 species of birds can be seen on and around Mount Augustus. There are also many watering holes near Mount Augustus. Like Uluru, the colour of the rock changes during dawn and dusk. Bright pink, orange and red with the occasional green reflect the changes of its mood. Unlike Uluru, there is a great deal of plant growth on and around the mountain, dominated by wattles, cassias and eremophilas. Bald Rock Bald Rock. Photo used with permission from Henry Gold. Bald Rock is situated in Bald Rock National Park on the New South Wales-Queensland border. The park is accessed via the Mt Lindesay Highway. The ' Rock' is Australia's largest exposed granite surface, and rises to 1277 metres above sea level.

It towers about 200 metres up out of the surrounding bushland, is 750 metres long and 500 metres wide. Useful links Uluru - Ayers Rock. Australia - YouTube Uluru - Ayers Rock. Australia Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Oct 5, 2011 Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory. Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. Uluru is sacred to the Aṉangu, the Aboriginal people of the area. The area around the formation is home to a plethora of springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a World Heritage Site. Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour at different times of the day and year, most notably glowing red at dawn and sunset.

Although rainfall is uncommon in this semiarid area, during wet periods the rock acquires a silvery-grey colour, with streaks of black algae forming on the areas that serve as channels for water flow. The world was once a featureless place. None of the places we know existed until creator beings, in the forms of people, plants and animals, traveled widely across the land. Then, in a process of creation and destruction, they formed the landscape as we know it today. Aṉangu land is still inhabited by the spirits of dozens of these ancestral creator beings which are referred to as Tjukuritja or Waparitja. Uluru was built up during the creation period by two boys who played in the mud after rain. When they had finished their game they travelled south to Wiputa ... Fighting together, the two boys made their way to the table topped Mount Conner, on top of which their bodies are preserved as boulders. The Aborigines believe that there it is hollow below ground, and that there is an energy source that they call 'Tjukurpa' the dream time.

The term Tjukurpa is also used to refer to the record of all activities of a particular ancestral being from the very beginning of his or her travels to their end. Anangu know that the area around Ayers Rock (Mount Uluru) is inhabited by dozens of ancestral 'beings' whose activities are recorded at many other sites. At each site, the events that took place can be recounted, whether those events were of significance or whether the ancestral being just rested at a certain place before going on. Usually, there is a physical feature of some form at each ancestral site which represents both the activities of the ancestral being at the time of its formation and the living presence of Tjukurpa within that physical feature today. For the Australian Aboriginal people, that physical feature, whatever its form or appearance, animate or inanimate, is the Tjukurpa. It may be a rock, a sand hill, a grove of trees, a cave. For all of these, the creative essence remains forever within the physical form or appearance.

Category Uluru/Ayers Rock | tor, Northern Territory, Australia | Britannica.com tor, Northern Territory, Australia Alternative Titles: Ayers Rock, Ayres Rock, Uluru Related Topics Australian federal election of 2010 Uluru/Ayers Rock, giant monolith, one of the tors (isolated masses of weathered rock) in southwestern Northern Territory , central Australia . It has long been revered by a variety of Australian Aboriginal peoples of the region, who call it Uluru. The rock was sighted in 1872 by explorer Ernest Giles and was first visited by a European the following year, when surveyor William Gosse named it for Sir Henry Ayers, a former South Australian premier. It is the world’s second largest monolith, surpassed in size only by Mount Augustus (Burringurrah) in Western Australia . Uluru/Ayers Rock, Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park, southwestern Northern Territory, central … Paul Steel/Photo Index Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park, Northern Territory, Australia. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Overview of Uluru/Ayers Rock, Northern Territory, Australia.

Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz Uluru/Ayers Rock rises 1,142 feet (348 metres) above the surrounding desert plain and reaches a height 2,831 feet (863 metres) above sea level. The monolith is oval in shape, measuring 2.2 miles (3.6 km) long by 1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide, with a circumference of 5.8 miles (9.4 km). Composed of arkosic sandstone , which contains a high proportion of feldspar , the rock changes colour according to the position of the Sun; it is most visually striking at sunset, when it is coloured a fiery orange-red by the Sun’s rays. Its lower slopes have become fluted by the erosion of weaker rock layers, while the top is scored with gullies and basins that produce giant cataracts after infrequent rainstorms. Shallow caves at the base of the rock are sacred to several Aboriginal tribes and contain carvings and paintings.

The monolith is within Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park (established in 1958 as Ayers Rock–Mount Olga National Park and renamed in 1993), which also includes the Olgas (Kata Tjuta), a group of tors about 20 miles (32 km) west-northwest of Uluru/Ayers Rock. The park has an area of 512 square miles (1,326 square km). In 1985 official ownership of Uluru/Ayers Rock was given to the local Aboriginal people, who thereupon leased the rock and the national park to the federal government for 99 years. The rock and the surrounding park were named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987, and UNESCO gave the park a second World Heritage designation in 1994 for its cultural significance. Aboriginal man standing with Uluru/Ayers Rock in the background, Uluru–Kata Tjuta National … Grant Faint—The Image Bank/Getty Images Similar Topics Southwest National Park The region’s climate is hot and dry for much of the year, with considerable diurnal (day-night) temperature variation.

Winters (May–July) are cool, and low temperatures at night frequently drop below freezing. Daytime highs often exceed 105 °F (40 °C) during the hottest month (December). Precipitation is highly variable and averages about 12 inches (300 mm) annually, with most falling from January to March; there are frequent periods of drought. Despite the seeming harshness of the climate, the landscape around the monolith supports a variety of flora and fauna. There are about 400 species of plants in the national park, including mulga trees (a type of acacia), desert oaks and desert poplars, and several types of eucalyptus, especially centralian bloodwoods (Corymbia opaca); shrubs, notably species of Grevillea; and dozens of types of wildflowers, including foxtails and myrtles.

Wildlife includes mammals such as red kangaroos (Macropus rufus), a variety of rodents and small marsupials, and the rare rufus hare wallaby (Lagorchestus hirsutus); numerous reptiles and amphibians, particularly lizards such as geckos and skinks, snakes (including such highly poisonous varieties as the death adder), and the indigenous moloch (thorny devil); and some 175 species of birds, notably falcons, buzzards, budgerigars (a species of parakeet), and honeyeaters. Woma python (Aspidites ramsayi) in the desert near Uluru/Ayers Rock, … Michael and Patricia Fogden/Corbis Where the Kookaburras Live... Uluru/Ayers Rock is one of Australia’s best-known tourist destinations. Most visitors arrive there via Alice Springs , about 280 miles (450 km) northeast by road, although there are scheduled flights to a small airport at Yulara, a community just north of the national park boundary.

Yulara also has hotel, hostel, and camping accommodations, as well as restaurants and other guest services; there are no overnight facilities within the park. The park is accessible by road from Yulara, and a road connects the Uluru/Ayers Rock area with the Olgas formations. Hiking around the base of the rock is a popular activity, as is climbing up the rock itself. However, the local Aboriginal people have strongly encouraged people not to climb on it. A cultural centre near the base of the monolith has exhibits that introduce visitors to Aboriginal society and culture . The northwestern face of Uluru/Ayers Rock, southwestern Northern Territory, central Australia. © Goodshoot/Jupiterimages Uluru/Ayers Rock - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) One of Australia’s most famous landmarks, Uluru/Ayers Rock is a giant mass of weathered sandstone located in the southwestern part of the Northern Territory. It is of great cultural significance, as shallow caves at the base of the rock are sacred to several Aboriginal tribes. Within the caves are many Aboriginal carvings and paintings. The rock is part of the larger Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (formerly Ayers Rock-Mount Olga National Park).

The park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987 and is among Australia’s most popular tourist destinations. Article Contributors Geology | Uluru | Ayers Rock | Geoscience Australia Geology The making of Uluru and Kata-Tjuta The Anangu people know how Uluru and Kata Tjuta were formed. This knowledge comes from the Tjukurpa, the stories and lore that explain and govern Anangu life. But much of it, particularly about Kata Tjuta, is sacred and cannot be presented here. Geologists have their own explanation. Below is a brief scientific description of how both Uluru and Kata Tjuta were formed. Creating the fans 550 million years ago the Peterman Ranges to the west of Kata Tjuta were taller than they are now. Rainwater flowing down the mountains eroded sand and rock and dropped it in big fan shapes on the surrounding plain. One fan had mainly water-smoothed rocks. The other fan was mainly sand. Both fans became kilometres thick. Pressing the fans Later, 500 millions years ago, the whole area became covered in sea. Sand and mud fell to the bottom of the sea and covered the seabed, including the fans.

The weight of the new seabed turned both it and the fans beneath into rock. The rocky fan became conglomerate rock. The sand fan turned into sandstone. Folding and tilting About 400 million years ago, the sea had disappeared and the whole of Central Australia began to be subjected to massive forces. Some rocks folded and tilted. The rocky fan tilted slightly. The sand fan tilted 90 degrees so the layers of sandstone almost stood on end. Wearing away Over the last 300 million years, the softer rocks have eroded away, leaving the parts of the old fans exposed. Kata Tjuta is a hard part of the old rocky fan. Uluru is part of the sand fan, with its beds of sandstone nearly vertical. The area around Uluru and Kata Tjuta was covered in windblown sand plains and dunes 30,000 years ago. Uluru, like Kata Tjuta, is the tip of a huge slab of rock that continues below the ground for possibly five to six kilometres. The shaping of Uluru and Kata-Tjuta From a distance, Uluru looks smooth and featureless.

But up close its face is weather-beaten - pitted with holes and gashes, ribs, valleys and caves. To Anangu, these features are related to the journeys and actions of ancestral beings across the landscape. On your tours and at the Cultural Centre in the Park, you may hear about some of the Uluru creation stories. These stories, known as Tjukurpa, tell about the travels and actions of Kuniya (Woma python), Liru (poisonous snake), Mala (rufous hare-wallaby) and Lungkata (Centralian blue-tongue lizard). You may learn to see the evidence of their activities in the features of Uluru. Geologists have different explanations about how these features formed. The Ribs Some layers of akrose, the rock that makes up Uluru, are softer than others, and wear away more quickly. This leaves Uluru's characteristic parallel ribs or ridges. Flaky red skin Close up, much of the surface of Uluru is flaky red with grey patches. The flakes are bits of rock that are left after water and oxygen in the air have decayed minerals in the rest of the rock.

The red is the rusting of the iron in the arkose. The grey is the original colour of the arkose. You can see the unrusted grey rock inside the caves. The Caves There are many types of caves at Uluru - those that look like honeycombs, high up on the walls, and wave-shaped caves at ground level. Perhaps they were formed by uneven flaky weathering. Small pits became bigger dimples, then hollows, then caves. Or they may have been chemically eaten away by water when the land's surface was higher; then exposed as the land was eroded away. Carved out by water Water has shaped the valleys, potholes and pools of Uluru. Rainstorm after rainstorm over millions of years has sent water plummeting down the hard rock, wearing it away to form grooves, and chains of potholes and plunge pools. The Domes When the huge slab of rock that is Kata Tjuta was being folded and faulted, vertical joints or fractures cracked through the rock.

Water seeped down the cracks and over millions of years the rock eroded away - grain by grain, pebble by pebble, to form valleys and gorges that split the rock slab into blocks. Curved cracks called topographic joints formed on the surface of the blocks. Weathering and erosion wore away the rocks above the cracks to produce the rounded domes we see today. Kata Tjuta, the Anangu name for the collection of domes, means "many heads". Travelling to Uluru

Question: Ayers Rock (Uluru) in Australia is made of what type of rock?
Answer: Sandstone